


Fools

by fwildflowerf



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, but these are the main - Freeform, there will be other characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 20:54:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30061398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fwildflowerf/pseuds/fwildflowerf
Summary: He looks at them, mouth agape and eyes wide open, a look that could easily be interpretated as anger on his face, but that actually is confusion, utter confusion. Betty Cooper, with her perfectly curled blonde hair, because even after seven years the need to be perfect is something she just can’t seem to shake off, and blue eyes that look at the same time lighter and darker than the last time he saw them, is sitting in front of him sporting an easy-going smile on her pretty pink lips, as if she didn’t just enter Pop Tate’s diner with Donna Sweets and Chuck Clayton.OrBetty made some unexpected friends at Yale.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Chuck Clayton, Betty Cooper & Donna Sweett, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper & Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Chad Gekko/Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Fangs Fogarty/Kevin Keller
Kudos: 11





	Fools

Chapter 1 - _Welcome Home_

\---

**Riverdale**

**7:23 PM**

The diner looks just the same, seven years hasn’t done much damage to the seemingly frozen in time restaurant, the red electric lights nailed on the front of the small building illuminate the somewhat dark parking lot, where several motorcycles are parked. A wave of nostalgia hits him as different memories filter through his mind and he has to deliberately avert his gaze to the darkened sky, only brightened by the moon and the many stars that litter it, in order not to talk himself out of it.

The door opens just as easily as it did _then_ and the small bells sat gingerly above it hum a familiar tune, announcing his entrance to the other occupants of the diner, the warm temperature a welcome change from the frigid air outside. The young waitress raises her head and shoots him a small, barely convincing, smile at which he nods, but otherwise ignores her in favor of scanning the insides, his dark almost black eyes dance from empty booth to empty booth and then –

“Jughead Jones, as I live and breathe.”

Veronica Lodge looks just as polished as she did back in high school, her signature white pearl necklace hanging delicately around her neck, her dark hair straitened and brushed until it thinned out, not a strand out of place and he runs a hand through the mess of curls he knows is on his own head suddenly feeling slightly self-conscious of his appearance. He offers her a nod, similar to the one he gave the young girl at the counter but otherwise doesn’t make a move to hug her nor does she and he is grateful for that.

“Veronica.” He acknowledges taking a sit in front of her, placing himself strategically near the exit of the booth, because even after years of not talking and seeing each other he can’t bring himself to sit in _her_ place and when he looks at the other girl, he knows she understands. His eyes scan her, not in the weird and creepy way that make women squirm uncomfortably, but in the kind of way an estranged relative you haven’t seen since your seventh birthday does. His gaze stops on the diamond ring on her finger.

“You got hitched.”

The words leave his mouth before he can stop them, and she fixes him with a look he is way too familiar with.

“ _Married._ ” She corrects and he shrugs his shoulders unbothered “And yes I did.”

He doesn’t ask her about the wedding or the husband’s name or how life has been, and she doesn’t provide any other information, a mutual understanding that this isn’t a reunion, they are here to help Archie, because after years and years apart the redhead still has a special place in their hearts, despite the obvious flaws and hurt he had inflicted. The dark skinned girl from earlier comes and asks for his order and he orders a coffee, _black like his hart_ – he doesn’t say that.

They sip their coffees in silence, neither feel the need to fill the silence, rather taking comfort in the quietness of their small booth and Jughead allows himself a moment to relax, something he hadn’t done in a long time.

It’s short lived though, the bells that have previously announced his arrival, now, are ringing again, getting the attention of both him and Veronica, both pair of dark eyes land on one redhead, an ex-lover and an ex-best friend and the sole reason either of the two occupants of the tiny booth have returned to Riverdale. A tiny part of him, one that he had made sure to lock away because it just hurt too much, feels disappointed that it isn’t a certain blonde haired, blue eyed goddess.

He watches as Archie scans the diner, his eyes lighting up when he spots them only to dim considerably and then light up again, less enthusiastically but just as warm, and Jughead knows he feels just as disappointed. Veronica’s face is an emotionless façade but he manages to see the corner of her mouth twitching downwards, out of all of them he really though Betty would have shown guaranteed – turns out, he was wrong.

“Hey, guys.”

Archie takes a place next to Veronica, in front of Jughead but not before moving a chair for Toni, who he realizes just now is pregnant, like really pregnant and has he really fallen that much out of touch with the people he once considered family, with the people who he’d once give his life in a blink, the same people who are now nothing more than strangers.

Strangers with a past.

They don’t say anything for a second, a lingering longing mixed with awkwardness and he finds himself wondering what is exactly is he doing here. Toni’s phone rings, a what would have been welcome distraction if not for the name flashing on the brightly lit screen in bold white letters, a fairly recent photo of a blonde woman laughing, her right arm slung over Toni’s. He takes a double look, afraid his mind is playing tricks on him, but no, the letters remain the same spelling the name of a girl he hasn’t stopped thinking about in years, save for the times he had been inebriated, _Betty._

He doesn’t get more time to stare at the profile image as Toni takes the device bringing it to her ear, shielding its screen from Jughead’s hungry eyes that remain transfixed on the spot where the small mobile had been laying a mere moment ago.

“Hey Betty.”

Toni’s voice is lighter, and he doesn’t know if he imagined her shoulders relaxing or not when _her_ voice filters through the speakers, just as soft as he remembered.

_“Toni, hey.”_ She sounds out of breath, he thinks _“I just read your text. I’m so sorry, I really thought we had more time – ”_

She cuts herself off, and he strains to hear what goes on in the background, he thinks he hears shuffling, a feminine voice that he knows he recognizes from somewhere and then Betty’s soft shushing that is only met with a laugh.

_“Sorry about that, anyways. I’m five minutes away, so you can relax I didn’t bail on it”_ she laughs and Jughead feels his heart swell, a certain kind of warmth flooding through his otherwise cold body. He doesn’t listen to the now Serpent Queen , lost in thoughts, but he knows Toni laughed, the rest of the exchange falls deaf on his ears. Betty is coming, after all.

Betty, his high school girlfriend is coming.

And he looks as if he just rolled out of bed, _great_.

He doesn’t have any more time to dwell on the way he has chosen to dress, however, because the door of the diner opens, and it takes all of his self-control to not turn around and run towards her. But then Archie’s face breaks into a grin, Toni smiles, waving towards her and even Veronica has a semi-thrilled look going on and _damn it, fuck this_. He is halfway turned around, almost facing Betty, but not yet, when the bells clink again, though this time he doesn’t give them importance.

Maybe he should have.

It would have surely spared him the misery.

He looks at them, mouth agape and eyes wide open, a look that could easily be interpretated as anger on his face, but that actually is confusion, utter confusion. Betty Cooper, with her perfectly curled blonde hair, because even after seven years the need to be perfect is something she just can’t seem to shake off, and blue eyes that look at the same time lighter and darker than the last time he saw them, is sitting in front of him sporting an easy-going smile on her pretty pink lips as if she didn’t just enter Pop Tate’s diner with Donna Sweets and Chuck Clayton.


End file.
